Gold bugs abuzz in quest for treasure

The near-record price of gold, coupled with an anything-but-glittering economy, has triggered a modern-day gold rush.

The near-record price of gold, coupled with an anything-but-glittering economy, has triggered a modern-day gold rush.

Some folks are digging through cabinets, dresser drawers and jewelry boxes, looking for unwanted gold they can swap for cash.

Others are taking a more old-fashioned approach: They're pulling out their atlases, pulling on their waders and stepping into out-of-the-way streambeds in search of tiny flecks of gold.

It's nothing like the California Gold Rush of 1849, when hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers - or "forty-niners" - headed west, drawn by dreams of instant wealth. But a growing number of people are panning for gold - in Ohio and across the United States.

The biggest, the Gold Prospectors Association of America, has seen its membership double since 2007, when the economy started to sour. The association added about 15,000 people to its rolls last year, raising its membership to more than 45,000.

"Oh, it's boomed," said Patrick O'Masters, a 48-year-old heating-and-cooling contractor from Columbus and an active member of the association's Buckeye Chapter.

"I'm not surprised - with today's economic climate. Gold is a tangible asset. You can't print more of it."

Gold closed Thursday at $1,380 an ounce in New York futures trading, $48 below the record high of $1,428 set Dec. 6.

The metal is up about 29percent this year. The Dow Jones industrial average, in comparison, is about 11percent higher than it was on Jan.1.

"Spiking gold prices are sometimes the deciding factor to stop watching TV and actually go prospecting and experience it for yourself," said Brandon Johnson, president of the prospecting association, which is based in Temecula, Calif.

"That quarter ounce or couple pennyweight is worth a lot more now than it used to be."

Members of the association receive a patch, a bumper sticker, a window decal, instructional DVDs and a one-year subscription to Gold Prospector magazine.

More important, they gain access to privately owned prospecting locations that have yielded gold before.

Nationwide, the association has about 1,800 claims. Three are in Ohio: the Swank Claim near Bellville, in Richland County; the Frazee Claim near Zuck, in Knox County; and the Lewis Claim near Lucasville, in Scioto County.

However, because the gold in Ohio is "placer gold" - that is, it was carried here by prehistoric glaciers - it can, in theory, show up in most any stream.

"You can find gold anywhere where the water slows down and creates a little eddy, like around a bend," O'Masters said.

He said he keeps an eye out for mineral-rich black sand, which can be an indication of a placer deposit.

"Aw, that's called 'Leaverite,'" he said, taking a close look at a speck that had caught his attention. "Leave 'er right where you found it."

Much of the gold in Ohio is ultrafine "flour gold." Bigger pieces - those you could pick up with your fingers - are known as "pickers."

Kevin "Golden Eye" Adkins, a 55-year-old maintenance supervisor from Hilliard, likes to talk about the picker he turned up in Ross County.

"I was kind of excited," said Adkins, who's been prospecting for seven years. "You never know what you're going to find."

Dennis Staskiewicz, 41, of Wapakoneta, knows the feeling. He found a 3-gram nugget in water behind a Circleville factory.

"The river was fairly dirty; there was garbage in it," he said. "I didn't think I'd find anything - and that was my best find in Ohio in 10years."

The Gold Prospectors Association of America says it worries that some people, especially those frustrated by extended periods of unemployment or dead-end jobs, will view prospecting as a path to riches.

"Not every full-time prospector can earn a prosperous living, especially those with little to no experience," the organization says on its website. "And, while some prospectors do earn a successful living, they are the exception - not the rule."

Hobbyists such as O'Masters, Adkins and Staskiewicz insist there's no need to worry about them.

They said that although they don't always find gold when panning, they invariably find something they value almost as much: a break from the daily grind.

"I enjoy getting out of the house, out of the city, out in nature," O'Masters said. "It's a great family activity: Big kids, water, dirt - that's a good equation."

And with gold forecast to hit $1,500 an ounce in the year ahead, it's a pastime likely to grow even more in popularity before it wanes.